Ancient Warfare Podcast

Discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine.
Why did early civilisations fight? Who were their Generals? What was life like for the earliest soldiers?
Ancient Warfare Magazine will try and answer these questions.
Warfare minus two thousand years.

We’re looking at wars in the old Testament in this episode of the podcast. It’s a huge span of history, and only Jasper wrote a piece for this issue of the magazine. As is often the case with the topics we’re not quite so sure on, it turns out to be a very fruitful discussion.

We are once more between issues of the magazine with this episode. One of our patrons came up tonight's topic, we’re going to discuss what we actually know about combat on the battlefield and what it might have been like.

Much of what we read is the work of fiction but since John Keegans “Faces of Battle” in the 1970s historians have attempted to give a picture of what it might have been like for soldiers on the battlefield.

We’re between issues of the magazine this month so Murray suggested as the new war movie Dunkirk has been released why not try and look for similar examples in the ancient world of turning a Defeat into Victory.

"Before building an empire, the Romans first had to unify the various cultures already living on their doorstep."

If you want to be involved with the podcast why not become a patreon? Before each show is recorded we put the call out for listener input, those contributions hopefully help make the show better for everyone. Our patrons always provide some top notch talking points for us to discuss. You can find the show at patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast.

You may or may not be aware Ancient Warfare has a sister publication Medieval Warfare which Angus also helps produce the podcast for… You can find more information on the magazine at medieval-warfare.com.

A thank you to all our patrons who made suggestions for the show. After we finished recording we realised we'd forgotten to mention the Illiad so we've recorded a "extra" only available to those who support us via patreon.

With Jasper back in the editors chair at Ancient Warfare Magazine he joins regulars Marc DeSantis and Mark McCaffery to discuss Archers in the Ancient World (issue XI.1).

Throughout antiquity, the bow played an important role in warfare, from Assyria and Egypt to Greece and Rome. Heavy infantry and cavalry often got the glory, but archers on foot and horseback often played an important role on the battlefield.

We fielded a lot of listeners questions, many from patrons of the show who support us via patreon. For more information on how you can help us produce the show go to patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast.

One of our Patreon supporters suggested for an "extra" we might look at documentary series, such as Barbarians Rising, and the problems of factual programming falling into the same traps that Hollywood feature films fall into.

So after we finished talking about the year of the four Emperors I put the question to the team, curiously Lindsay Powell is actually one of the historians featured in Barbarians Rising.

We hope you enjoy the discussion.

Angus is joined by Josho Brouwers, Murray Dahm, Mark McCaffery, Marc De Santis and a welcome back to Lindsay Powell.

Angus is joined by I’m joined by Josho Brouwers, Murray Dahm, Mark McCaffery, Marc DeSantis and Sean Manning.

Medes, Persians or Achaemenids? Ancient sources rarely cared to differentiate them. Their tribes united and became kingdoms, and their kingdoms turned into empires. Some of the most decisive chapters of ancient warfare were written when their ever-changing borders brought them face-to-face with the great western powers.